Forget the poker face, players need poker arms, study suggests

A poker face may not be enough to conceal a winning hand, according to new
research which suggests gamblers may need a poker arm to emerge victorious.

A smoother arm movement when placing the chips shows a player has confidence in their hand, the study suggestsPhoto: Alamy

By Hayley Dixon

10:09AM BST 15 Sep 2013

Keeping your cards close with an emotionless expression has been thought so successful for years that it has become a common term for tricks used to get ahead in life.

But a new study of the game has found that hand and arm movements when placing chips can betray the value of the cards a player is holding, even when they have the straightest face, the Independent reported.

Those who are confident that they could have a winning hand place their bets with a smoother arm that those who are trying to blag using poor cards, and observers can guess in just two seconds.

"Even though professional players may be able to regulate their facial expressions, their arm movements could betray the quality of their poker hand,'' the researchers wrote in the journal Psychological Science.

Their intentions could be seen from their arm movements when placing bets, the team from Tufts University in the US, found during three separate studies.

During the research men and women viewed 20 two-second-long video clips of professional poker players at the 2009 World Series of Poker and rated the hand they were holding based on views of the face or the arms.

Judgements by the non-expert volunteers based on players' faces were poorer than random guesses, suggesting that players were able to both conceal the quality of their hands and to create deceptive expressions.

The judgements of the volunteers were much more accurate based upon the players' arm movements.

The research supports previous studies, and one theory is that the overall movement of the arms and hands may reflect confidence in those holding good cards. For those trying to hide their poor hand the stress could have an impact on their movement.

In a third study, the volunteers rated the players' confidence and smoothness of arm movements and it was found that smooth movements were judged to show confidence.

As the study was released, Phil Ivey, who has been dubbed the Tiger Woods of poker, has revealed that he used another technique of “reading” the cards to get ahead when he won £7.8million in Britain’s oldest casino.

Mayfair club Crockfords has refused to pay him his winnings on the grounds that he “operated a scam”, and he is currently suing them for the money.

Mr Ivey, a professional American poker player who vehemently denies cheating, has reportedly claimed in court papers that he legitimately used the technique of “edge sorting” to identify the cards during a game of punto bance, a type of baccarat based purely on luck.

In his submission, seen by the Mail on Sunday, Mr Ivey says he was able to exploit tiny flaws in the design of the cards - asymmetrical pattern differences on the rear that are the result of mistakes made during the manufacturing process.

The trick was well known in the industry at the time, and the casino was able to check the deck beforehand, he is said to add.